Sun Ovens International Inc. Saving lives by preserving forests around the world!

SUN OVENSâ can have an enormous impact on the everyday life of millions of people by: 

     Reducing the demand on forests. 
     Reducing health hazards. 
     Improving women’s conditions. 
 

1.       Two billion households depend on wood and charcoal to prepare food and the worldwide supply  of wood is rapidly disappearing. The demands of massive population growth, and the inefficient conversion of wood to charcoal, have outstripped much of the world's forests ability to regenerate, creating a phenomenon known as deforestation. 

Deforestation is the gravest environmental crisis facing the world today. Its far-reaching effects include: 

• The decreasing availability of firewood
• Removing the trees from an area is to remove its source of life. (Deforestation has left more than 25% of the continent of Africa almost useless for cultivation.)
• Forests protect the soil against erosion and reduce the risks of landslides and avalanches.
• Forests increase the rate that rainwater recharges groundwater as well as control the rate that water is released in watersheds, helping sustain freshwater supplies.
• Forests affect the climate. The occurrence and strength of floods and droughts increase when they are eliminated.
• Forests are an important source of oxygen.
• Forests store large amounts of carbon that are released when trees are cut or burned.

2.        Wood, stubble, dung, and grass are used daily in about half the world’s households as energy for cooking and heating. In most parts of the Third World they are burned in open fires or inefficient stoves in kitchens with little or no ventilation. 

Bio-mass smoke has many harmful effects which can cause or contribute to: 

• Acute respiratory infections
  (Respiratory infections alone cause between four and five million deaths per year among small children.) 
• Pneumonia
• Tuberculosis
• Cancer
• Lower birth weights
• Cataract
• Nervous and muscular fatigue

3.        As the supply of wood decreases, women must travel great distances to find wood. Many women in developing countries must spend several hours each day collecting fuel-wood.